Support

Citations Guidance

This page offers guidance on referencing the sources in our collections. If you are referencing material hosted by BOA, please consult the style guide or referencing system adopted by your institution or the publication that you are submitting to. What follows is merely a general guide.

How We Reference Our Material:

A standard reference adheres to the following format:

British Online Archives, Collection title, “Document title or item description”, available at link, image number.

For example:

British Online Archives, London Life, 1965–1966, “Close-up: Jimmy Woolf by Cynthia Judah”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/23239/20th-november-1965#?xywh=-2288%2C0%2C7374%2C3642&cv=33, image 34. 

Given the wide range of archival material hosted by BOA, we recommend using either the document title or a description of the item that you are referencing. Documents on our site are composed of scans of archival sources, therefore a BOA “document” can be thought of as a folder made up of multiple images and items. Sometimes it is more intuitive to use an item description. In other instances, it is better to use the document title. Use your discretion to decide which to include in your reference. The following examples should help you decide which to opt for.

Using An Item Description:

If you are referencing material that is part of a clear section within a document and which has an obvious heading or title—such as newspaper articles, official reports, periodicals or, say, minutes of a meeting—use an item description in the reference. 

For example:

British Online Archives, The Sketch, 1893–1958, “In the Great World”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/29763/11th-december-1912#?xywh=-876%2C-507%2C5886%2C2908&cv=13, image 14.

British Online Archives, American Women's Club Magazine, 1925–1936, “Waist-lines and Skirt-lines”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/43185/october-1928#?xywh=-625%2C-1302%2C12891%2C6368&cv=17, image 19.

British Online Archives, British Labour Party Papers, 1968–1994, “Minutes of a Party Meeting held on Wednesday, 24th November 1976 at 12 noon in Committee Room 14”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/62/minutes-for-197677-session, image 2. 

British Online Archives, BBC Listener Research Department Reports, 1937–c.1950, “What time do people have their meals?”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/685/reports-for-1938, image 83. 

Using the Document Title:

Other documents are not clearly split into sections. In such cases, it is better to use the document title that has been assigned by BOA.

For example: 

British Online Archives, South Africa in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1819–1900, “Grahamstown, E. 30”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/4894/grahamstown-e-30, image 11.

British Online Archives, Communism in Crisis in Britain and Abroad, 1931–1979, “The Communist Party of the Netherlands in the Sino-Soviet Split, 1967”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/26825/the-communist-party-of-the-netherlands-in-the-sino-soviet-split-1967#?xywh=321%2C349%2C1175%2C580&cv=3, image 4.

British Online Archives, British Government Information and Propaganda, 1939–2009, “DEMP-1-29-83: Have You a Job To Offer? Young People Deserve a Chance, 1982”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/22274/demp-1-29-83-have-you-a-job-to-offer-young-people-deserve-a-chance-1982#?xywh=-6372%2C-392%2C17743%2C7831, image 1.  

British Online Archives, Antigua, Slavery and Emancipation in the Records of a Sugar Plantation, 1689–1907, “Parham Register of Slaves Including Birth and Deaths, 1817–1826”, available at https://microform.digital/boa/documents/5356/parham-register-of-slaves-including-birth-and-deaths-1817-1826, image 74.